During
my early years, I accompanied my parents on trips every year, usually to Florida
to escape the harsh midwest winters but also out west on summer road trips. During
those trips, I accumulated the type of tourist grade Native American jewelry that
a kid would buy and now, years later those items are referred to as being "Fred
Harvey" style. Fred Harvey was an entrepreneur who created an avenue for
Indians to make and sell jewelry to the tourists. Jewelry of the Fred Harvey era
has typical Indian kitsch of arrows, tomahawks, tipis, thunderbirds and so on
and was most produced from 130- throughout the 1950s.

From childhood through
college and beyond, I had an eye for that type of jewelry and collected it, yet
rarely wore it !! About the only jewelry I wore for years was a Swiss Army watch
and my wedding band. My Mother, also a jewelry lover, gave me a few vintage Native
American pieces she had picked up. That really got me interested in older pawn
items.Yet I was a collector, not a wearer.

Then suddenly,
about ten years ago I started wearing first one Native American item, then another
and soon I felt incomplete if I didn't wear at least one bracelet and necklace
or pendant. Now I wear rings, belt buckles, watches and all things Native American.
My favorites include lapis lazuli items, water bird pendants, Hopi bracelets and
pendants, anything with Man in the Maze on it, silver beads, heishi of all kinds,
storyteller bracelets, rings of all kinds, all kinds of fetishes and more.

Once
I started working here at Horsekeeping and they added Native American jewelry
to the website, my personal collection quickly outgrew my jewelry box.....so much
so that I had to make a rule. Maybe some of you have done this with the clothes
or shoes or purses in your closet. For every new item I bring into my personal
collection, I must trade out at least one item. I've been doing this for years
and now have quite a box of items that I will list in my own section "Paula's
Collection".

When I first began collecting Native
American items, I didn't realize the importance of knowing the artist's name -
if I liked something and wanted it, I bought it. But now with all of our personal
contacts with artists, our reference library, and our interest in providing as
much information as we can to our customers, we are all very interested in finding
out the artist's name, relatives, and tribal affiliation. So I'll do my best to
give you the most information I can on each piece.

I
hope you enjoy browsing through our pawn shop - and Paula's Collection - it is
a treasure trove of American History!

About
Bone Feather Jewelry

Used by the
Plains Indians people for generations, bone and feathers have played an important
part of everyday life, ceremonies and adornment.

Lonny
and Michelle Cloud were the first modern artists to combine elements of bones
and feathers into bone feather jewelry. They have been designing and making their
bone feather art for 20 years. Although there have been imitations of their designs
the Clouds' work is distinctive and of the finest quality available.

A dark or colored film of oxidation that forms naturally on metal exposure to
air and other elements. It is often valued for its aesthetically pleasing appearance.
All items in our Pawn Shop have some patina, even .